Having trouble getting into Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series

[robvitaro]

I've read Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books and enjoyed them. Many fantasy book lists I've seen on the internet recommended Malazan as another series I would enjoy.

I'm 1/4 through Gardens of the Moon and - I have to be honest - I'm not grabbed yet. I don't find the characters that compelling. They all seem tired - literally - and it's making me tired. So far the only thing I like is the gods/ascendants interaction with people.

I've recommended books to people where I've had to say, "just get past the first few chapters and then it's great." I just read someone say of Malazan, "it gets really great after the first few BOOKS."



As an author of fantasy, I feel I almost have to read what's out there, and Malazan comes up a lot. I enjoy lots of types of series, from the well known (ASoIaF, Dark Tower) to the lesser known (Aurailia Thread, MYST trilogy)

SO, can anyone offer encouragement here to keep going with Malazan? Did I miss something? Or should I move on to something else? I don't want to miss a real gem.

 

[Steerpike]

It's a great series, but I liked it from the start. If you don't like it by the time you get to the end of Gardens of the Moon, it's probably not for you. I don't think there was any point in Gardens of the Moon that I wasn't enjoying it. As far as ongoing epic fantasy series go, it's in the top two or three for me

 

[Jeff Xilon]

I recently finished Gardens of the Moon as an audio book and in the beginning I found myself re-listening to parts again and again trying to get things straight in my head and also because I found myself just tuning out. I did stick with it though and when I'd finished the book I knew I'd be reading more in the series because I'd really enjoyed it. It was definitely a case of the more I'd read the more I enjoyed it. Also, I found many of the characters introduced later in the book far more interesting than earlier in the book. I haven't read any of the other books yet but I'd agree with Steerpike - if you finish the book and nothing's grabbed you it's probably best to explore other things. At least, I wouldn't subject myself to more of such a huge series I wasn't enjoying seeing as there is more out there in fantasy than I'm likely to ever get around to reading as it is.

 

[robvitaro]

Thanks for the replies. I realize I don't HAVE to read it if I don't like it, but I want to give it a fair shot. I found another review today that made feel a lot better about it being a challenge. I'm going to push through a little longer, but I may put it down for a while and come back to it another time.

 

[ThinkerX]

I've read four or five books in the Malazan series (most recently 'Memories of Ice').

To me, they read almost like an AD&D campaign writ large.

Worth reading, but not really outstanding.

 

[Nameback]

I'm conflicted about this series. I actually liked it more at the beginning--not because the quality erodes, but rather because I just get exhausted with Erikson's prose. But I love the books for the world, the plot, and many of the characters. It's just the writing itself that I have (many) issues with.

Erikson seems to have a hard time staying close to the action--not just action-action, but the action of any scene. Dialogue is broken up by huge paragraphs that are basically just tangential and sometimes aimless philosophizing, barely dressed as the thoughts or words of the characters, or as relevant to the story.

It reminds me of that chapter in 1984 that's basically just Orwell writing his own philosophical treatise, which is presented in the form of Emmanuel Goldstein's book, as read by Winston. A lot of people dislike that chapter, because it's not really narrative at all. It's just political opinion, and it disrupts the story as a story. Other people like it because they're more interested in the political aspects of the book than the literary ones.

Anyway, the Malazan books are basically like that chapter, if it were broken up and interspersed throughout the whole book. Also, I find a lot of Erikson's philosophizing to be a little sophomoric and not particularly compelling. We get it--war is brutal. I got the message after the first three books. He has a tendency to drive his themes home with a sledgehammer to your skull.

Also, he's unnecessarily elliptical. There's something to be said for building tension, and keeping surprises in store for the reader, but I think Erikson often does this rather gracelessly, just by abusing cliff-hangers and jumping schizophrenically between plot-lines. He conceals too much and too obviously. Not every chapter needs to start with three paragraphs where we're wondering who this scene is even about. It's annoying.

That said, there's a great many things Erikson does right. His world is insanely expansive and well thought-out. His characters are usually compelling and multi-faceted. You often find yourself radically changing your opinion of a character as your first impression is unraveled by the complexity of a character's actions. The plot is complex and satisfying--perhaps overly complicated. Surely, any non-fantasy/sci-fi reader would give up before the first book is over due to the number of characters, locales, and plot-threads. Still, I enjoy it. His epic scope and giant confrontations are really fun and of the sort that are rarely seen in 'gray fantasy.' His history is fascinating, and his training as an anthropologist really comes through in the believable detail of his cultures, and the originality and diversity of nations, races, religions, and so on. Who couldn't love an army of 300,000 year-old undead Neanderthals?

Anyway, it's a mixed bag. I find it worth reading, but it's been a slog at times. I'm only on the seventh book, and it's taken me more than three months. By comparison, I read the first four books of ASOIAF in a week.

 

[Svrtnsse]

Seconding the opinion that if you don't enjoy it after the first book then the rest probably isn't your style.

I've finished the series and I very much enjoyed the first two thirds, but towards the end it all got a bit much. This may be due to how I caught up with the publishing and had to wait for ages for the last few books to show up though. If I'd read them back to back I might have had a better grasp of the situation.

 

[Creed]

Personally, I love the series.
I started reading them towards the end of Grade 8 (before which I was subjected to Percy Jackson and the Immortal Nicholas Flammel, with the rare dose of something good like The Witcher Saga) and by halfway through Grade 9 I was into Volume 9, Dust of Dreams. On GoodReads I read a LOT of mixed reviews.
It really depends on the type of person, I think. There are a lot of characters and settings and ideas and plotlines (wonderfully interwoven) to keep in mind, and- commenting on the whole philosophy thing- the writing can seem… unfocused. It's true, Erikson does wander around in his head sometimes, and I'm not going to lie to you, it gets longer as the story progresses. But to me it made it all seem more full, if that makes sense. Less skeletal, more deep. You know, sometimes the paragraphs would make me stop and THINK, and I don't CapsLock just anything. Now that is something I can respect in an author.
I haven't read much of ASOIAF but there are a few similarities between them. I made the conscientious decision to watch the show, and I'm okay with that, because the prose in A Game of Thrones was certainly not full or compelling like Steven Erikson's- I'm sure it gets better. Erikson plunges into the character's minds and a lot of the time seemingly insignificant paragraphs are, when considered, intriguing commentary from the character's hidden voice- italics being the unhidden voice.
I have The Crippled God waiting a few metres from me, and it's been there for two years. I don't want the series to end, so I'm putting it off for as long as I can! But hey, there are a lot of good fantasy books out there, so it's time well wasted.

 

[Ankari]

Creed, read The Crippled God. Steven Erikson is writing other books set in the same world and is using many of the same characters. I finished reading Forge of Darkness not to long ago, and that's a planned trilogy. He also has something in the works for Karsa (another trilogy).

 

[Creed]

Creed, read The Crippled God. Steven Erikson is writing other books set in the same world and is using many of the same characters. I finished reading Forge of Darkness not to long ago, and that's a planned trilogy. He also has something in the works for Karsa (another trilogy).

*does a little dance*
YAY! I read the back of Forge of Darkness and it sent shivers up my spine…
Alright. I will read it. I'm about three quarters through The Crippled God, and when I finish the books I'm currently reading, I'll go back to the halfway point and finish off the series once and for all!
I'm so excited now!

 

[robvitaro]

Thank you to the others chiming in. You've all pretty much solidified my position that they are worth reading, but I've decided to set them to the side for now. Think I might be in a bit of fatigue mode with Epic Fantasy (I know, the horror!)

Decided to switch genres for a while and read Howey's Wool. Probably will come back to Malazan after that.

 

[ThinkerX]

After rereading the handful of 'Malazan' books I have, I now see a bit more of the big picture. However, does that Erickson ever get sidetracked! And there is a huge amount of stuff which could be deleted without impairing the story.

Case in point: the Letheri / Awl war in 'Reapers Gale'. Nice story of the barbarians last stand against the evil empire. Interesting characters on both sides, including one who should have died in 'Bone Hunters'. A couple of close battles. Then the third army shows up out of nowhere and kills everybody on both sides, pretty much. And that whole conflict took up something like 200 pages. It could probably have been dropped to about 20 pages and still gotten the main points across.

Another example of over wordage was the bio's of something like twenty soldiers in the Malazan army in that book - most of whom made only a couple of appearances outside those bio's. Had they been major players, well, that might have been justified. As it is...most of them were not. (I liked Beak, by the way.) Here, Erikson is doing the same thing I've noted in some recent SF works: working his character notes into the text proper. (He does this again with the female academic prisoner who spends a page or two reciting a lecture from memory).

That said, I went and ordered the Malazan books I don't have today...at least the 'core' set. Used, of course.

 

[Steerpike]

Sure you could cut all that out, or condense it, but it wouldn't be the same book anymore I prefer them as they are, personally, but I know they're not going to appeal to everyone that way.

 

[Creed]

There is a point when the storyline of the Malaxan army becomes half-and-half story and little anecdotes for all the soldiers you've known about since Deadhouse Gates. It's true, most of them aren't major players, and those stories were far from necessary. But it's something I really enjoyed. You get a glimpse of MORE for so many characters that had just existed and not much else in the way of personal history.
Plus there were a lot of interesting ones. Like the necromancer's story, and his brush with Hood. And, of course, Beak. That part made me set the book down and take a breather from how fantastically awesome it was.